Alaska, United StatesMagnetic latitude 65.1°Population 3,2776 m above sea level
Northern lights in Kotzebue
Kotzebue sits right under the auroral oval: on clear, dark nights the aurora is often overhead, even when activity is quiet. Clouds matter far more than the Kp number here.
Right now
It is still light here. Darkness starts at 20:50.
Latest measured half-hour activity worldwide: Hp30 3.7.
Updates every minute while this page is open. Ground data: GFZ Potsdam Hp30 index (CC BY 4.0).
Tonight in one minute
Not tonight
- Solar activity Strong enough: Kp 2.7 expected, 0 needed here.
- Sky Overcast (97% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 20:50 to 08:20. A bright moon (87%) washes out faint displays.
What to do: Not tonight — your next chance is shown just below.
Saturday 31 October — Possible · Kp 5 · best around 02:00 · Forecast cloud: 66%. · Reliability: low (rough trend)
Each box is one night: the colour shows the chance, the number the expected Kp. Tap a night for details.
📅 Add these nights to your calendar — it updates itself (.ics)
How far ahead can the northern lights be forecast?
- Minutes to an hour: satellites 1.5 million km away measure the solar wind before it reaches Earth. This is the surest warning — the “Right now” box uses it.
- 1–3 days: when the Sun throws out a cloud of particles, it takes one to three days to arrive. NOAA's 3-hourly forecast covers these nights; the timing can still be off by a few hours.
- 4–27 days: the Sun turns once every 27 days, and regions that disturbed Earth's field last time often do it again. NOAA's 27-day outlook gives this rough trend — new eruptions are not in it yet.
Tonight
Updated 11:33 local time
Unlikely
Best around 00:00. Forecast max Kp 2.7 (this place needs 0), average cloud 97%.
- Dark enough
- 20:50 – 08:20
- Sunset
- 18:51 · sunrise 10:19
- Moon
- 87% · ↑ 18:26 · ↓ 06:36
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 0
- Look towards
- north-north-east (16°)
Cloud layers and weather
Low cloud blocks the aurora completely. Thin high cloud often still lets a bright aurora shine through, so a sky with only high cloud is worth a look.
| Time | Thu, 20 | Thu, 23 | Fri, 02 | Fri, 05 | Fri, 08 | Fri, 22 | Sat, 01 | Sat, 04 | Sat, 07 | Sat, 21 | Sun, 00 | Sun, 03 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 61% | 61% | 49% | 38% | 30% | 75% | 72% | 64% | 57% | 59% | 62% | 65% |
| Mid cloud | 77% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 60% | 20% | 9% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| High cloud | 78% | 100% | 100% | 95% | 73% | 55% | 27% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
| Temperature | 1 °C | 1 °C | 0 °C | -1 °C | -2 °C | 0 °C | 2 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C |
| Feels like | -5 °C | -5 °C | -7 °C | -9 °C | -11 °C | -9 °C | -7 °C | -5 °C | -5 °C | -5 °C | -5 °C | -5 °C |
| Wind | 7 m/s | 8 m/s | 10 m/s | 13 m/s | 16 m/s | 19 m/s | 17 m/s | 14 m/s | 14 m/s | 15 m/s | 15 m/s | 15 m/s |
Cloud layers and weather: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
Score = activity (NOAA Kp and OVATION) × clear sky (MET Norway) × darkness × moonlight. Methodology
Weather in Kotzebue
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Kotzebue: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
Planning further ahead? See the hour-by-hour weather forecast for Kotzebue on Atlas of Seasons.
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What you would see from Kotzebue
Facing north-north-east. Bands show where the aurora sits at two activity levels.
| Kp | What you see | Lower edge | Ray tops | Distance to the aurora |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Visible to the north-north-east | 33° | 51° | 156 km |
| 2 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 3 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 4 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 5 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 6 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 7 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 8 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 9 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
The Kp scale in plain words
Kp is a 0–9 score for how strongly the Earth's magnetic field is being shaken by the solar wind. The higher it goes, the further from the poles the northern lights reach. Kp 0–2 is a quiet night; Kp 5 and above is a geomagnetic storm.
- Kp 0–2 Quiet eye in Kotzebue Only under the auroral oval: northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada.
- Kp 3 Unsettled next 24 h Bright in the Arctic; low on the horizon in central Scandinavia and southern Iceland.
- Kp 4 Active Overhead in the Arctic; low in the north from southern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Scotland.
- Kp 5 Minor storm (G1) Scotland, southern Scandinavia, the Baltic states, the northern US states and southern Canada.
- Kp 6 Moderate storm (G2) Northern England, Denmark, northern Germany and Poland, the US Midwest — often clearer in photos than to the eye.
- Kp 7 Strong storm (G3) Most of the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czechia; red glow in photos from France and the northern Alps.
- Kp 8 Severe storm (G4) Central Europe to the eye; red sky in photos from northern Italy, Spain, the Balkans and Turkey's Black Sea coast.
- Kp 9 Extreme storm (G5) Seen across Europe and the US; in photos as far south as the Mediterranean, Turkey and North Africa (May 2024).
Light pollution
Rural to suburban. Some sky glow from nearby lights. Moderate displays are fine; faint ones are easier a few kilometres out.
A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the north-east. Open in OpenStreetMap
Estimate from NASA VIIRS night-light data (sky-glow model within 50 km). Check access and private land before you go.
Hills and mountains
The horizon towards the north-north-east is open (terrain below 0.2°), so low aurora is not blocked.
From elevation data (AWS Terrain Tiles) along seven lines of sight up to 30 km.
Best months to see the aurora in Kotzebue
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
January has been the best month (71% of nights), followed by March (68%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 49% | 49% | 6.4 h | 4° / 8°C |
| October | 46% | 46% | 10.5 h | -3° / 0°C |
| November | 64% | 64% | 13.6 h | -13° / -9°C |
| December | 65% | 65% | 15.1 h | -19° / -14°C |
| January | 71% | 71% | 14.5 h | -21° / -17°C |
| February | 62% | 62% | 11.5 h | -20° / -15°C |
| March | 68% | 68% | 8.0 h | -19° / -12°C |
| April | 36% | 67% | 1.9 h | -12° / -5°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 18 April to 25 August — the sky stays too bright for most auroras.
- Midnight sun from 2 June to 10 July.
- Next new moon 8 November, next full moon 25 October. The darkest skies are in the week around new moon.
Aurora nights in Kotzebue since 1995
Nights when Kp reached 4.7 or more while it was dark here.
Most recent strong nights
- 3 October 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 7 September 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 17 April 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 2 April 2026 · Kp 5.3
- 1 April 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 24 March 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 21 March 2026 · Kp 6.3
- 20 March 2026 · Kp 5.0
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ) · 2 km
- Typical low / high in January
- -21° / -17°C
- What to wear
- Extreme cold: insulated boots, down jacket, two layers of wool, face protection, chemical hand warmers. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 911
- Winter driving
- Tyre and chain rules are set at state level; check Alaska 511 (511.alaska.gov, Alaska DOT&PF) for Alaska roads, or the relevant state's 511 service elsewhere. Road conditions
- Access to land
- There is no general right to roam; trespass law is set by each state, so stay on public land (national parks, national forests, BLM land) or get the landowner's permission, and follow each park's night-time and parking rules.
- Official space-weather service
- NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (aurora dashboard)
- Weather service
- National Weather Service (NOAA)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Kotzebue?
Kotzebue sits right under the auroral oval: on clear, dark nights the aurora is often overhead, even when activity is quiet. Clouds matter far more than the Kp number here.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Kotzebue?
Face north-north-east (about 16° from true north). At Kp 0 the lower edge of the aurora sits roughly 33° above the horizon; stronger activity lifts it higher and further across the sky.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Kotzebue?
Over 2005–2025, January gave the best odds in Kotzebue (71% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by March (68%).
When is the aurora season in Kotzebue?
From 18 April to 25 August the sky in Kotzebue never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Kotzebue?
Some sky glow from nearby lights. Moderate displays are fine; faint ones are easier a few kilometres out. A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the north-east.
When was the aurora last possible in Kotzebue?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Kotzebue on 3 October 2026 (Kp 5.0) — 602 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Kotzebue share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Sheshalik 15 km